VER. 17, 18.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 469
more required, that he might be a high priest, but that he should partake of our nature; but that he might be merciful and faithful, with that kind of mercy and faithfulness which the brethren stood in need of, it was moreover required that he should suffer and be tempted: which things must be distinctly considered.
(1.) That he might be a high priest, it was necessary that he should be partaker of the nature of them for whom he was to admi- nister in the things of God. So the apostle informs us, chap. v. 1, “ Every high priest for men must be taken from among men.” This is not work for an angel, nor for God himself as such. And there- fore, although the benefits of the priesthood of Christ were commu- nicated unto all believers from the foundation of the world, by virtue of the compact and agreement between the Father and him for the undertaking and execution of that office at the time appointed, yet he was not actually, nor could be a high priest, until he was clothed with flesh, and made partaker of the nature of the children, The duty which, as a high priest, he had to perform,—namely, to “ offer gifts and sacrifices” unto God, chap. viii. 3,—with the especial nature of that great sacrifice that he was to offer, which was himself, his body and soul, prepared and given him for that purpose, chap. x. 10, re- quire and make necessary this conformity. or this cause, then, was he made like unto the brethren in a participation of human nature.
(2.) That in this nature he should be perfectly holy, and exactly discharge his duty according unto the mind and will of God, was all that was required of him as to his being a high priest. But this was not all that the estate and condition of the brethren required. Their sorrows, tenderness, weakness, miseries, disconsolations, are such, that if there be not a contemperation of his sublime holiness, and absolute perfection in fulfilling of all righteousness, with some qualifications inclining him to condescension, pity, compassion, and tender sense of their condition, whatever might be the issue of their safety in the life to come, their comfort in this life would be in con- tinual hazard. For this cause, therefore, was he made like unto them in the infirmities of their nature, their temptations and suffer- ings, from whence all their disconsolations and sorrows do arise. Hence was the necessity of the qualifications for his office which by his sufferings and temptations he was furnished withal; and they are two:—
[1.] Mercifulness. He was ércquay, “ merciful,” “ serge com- passionate,” as the Syriac version renders the word; “ misericors,” one that lays all the miseries of his people to heart, so caring for them, to relieve them. Mercy in God is but a naked simple apprehension of misery, made effective by an act of his holy will to relieve. Mercy in Christ is a compassion, a condolency, and hath a moving of pity and sorrow joined with it. And this wasin the human nature ~
4.70 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. Il,
of Christ a grace of the Spirit in all perfection. Now, it being such a virtue as in the operation of it deeply affects the whole soul and body also, and being in¢omparably more excellent in Christ than in all the sons of men, it must needs produce the same effects in him wherewith in others in lesser degrees it is attended. Thus we find him at all times full of this compassion and pity towards all the sons of men, yea, the worst of his enemies, expressing itself by sighs and tears, intimating the deep compassion of his heart. And this made him as it were even forget his own miseries in his greatest distress; for when, seeing the daughters of Jerusalem mourn for him, as he was going to his cross, he minds them of that which his com- passionate heart was fixed on, even their approaching misery and ruin, Luke xxiii. 28. But yet neither is this mercifulness in general that which the apostle intends; but he considers it as excited, pro- voked, and drawn forth by his own temptations and sufferings. He suffered and was tempted, that he might be merciful, not absolutely, but a merciful high priest. The relation of the sufferings and tempta- tions of Christ unto his mercifulness, is not as unto the grace or habit of it, but as unto its especial exercise as our high priest. And this mercifulness of Christ is the gracious condolency and compassion of his whole soul with his people, in all their temptations, sufferings, dangers, fears, and sorrows, with a continual propensity of will and affection unto their relief, implanted in him by the Holy Ghost, as one of those graces which were to dwell in his nature in all fulness, excited and provoked, as to its continual exercise in his office of high priest, by the sense and experience which he himself had of those miseries which they undergo: whereof more on the last verse.
[2.] The other qualification mentioned is, that he should be <iorog, “faithful.” Some understand by zicros, “ verus,’ “ legitimus,” “true and rightful,’—made so in a due manner; whereof the apostle treats expressly, chap. v. 5: others, his general faithfulness, inte- grity, and righteousness, in the discharge of his office, being “ faith- ful unto him that appointed him,” as chap. iii 2. But neither of these senses answers the especial design of the apostle, nor his refer- ring of his qualifications unto his conformity with the brethren in sufferings and temptations. It must also answer that mercifulness which we have before described. It consists, therefore, in his exact, constant, careful consideration of all the concernments of the breth- ren, under their temptations and sufferings. This he is excited unto by his own experience of what it is to serve God in such a con- dition. It is described, Isa. xl. 11. Not his faithfulness, then, in general, whereby he discharged his whole office, and accomplished the work committed unto him, mentioned John xvii. 4, but his con- stant care and condescension unto the wants and sorrows of his suf- fering and tempted brethren, is here intended.